Temperature controlled mug for liquids in mug or disposable cup placed in mug

ABSTRACT

The present invention comprises a novel liquid temperature controlled mug which also allows controlling temperature in disposable cup. The temperature controlled mug is capable of maintaining temperature over wide temperature range. Voice activated temperature control with contact type battery charging makes the temperature control cup easy to handle.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to portable temperature controlled mug for various liquids present in the mug or in disposable cup. More particularly, the invention relates to allowing temperature of the liquid in the mug or in the disposable to be hot or cold cup when placed in the mug and to increase or decrease over wide temperature range while precisely holding at set temperature.

BACKGROUND

In past, various temperature controlled mugs have been designed and patented, but not all of them allow changing the temperature from cold to hot or hot to cold with very wide range. Other liquid temperature controlled mugs also known as coffee temperature controlled mugs have temperature settings usually on the hot side. Some of them take very long time to get to required temperature. Also battery life is limited and usually last only 2-4 hours max.

Recently there was beverage temperature control apparatus/housing introduced using thermoelectric cooler with very wide temperature range, but it comes with limitation that it cannot be carried in your palm's grip and hence not completely handy or portable just like any other portable mug. Plus the beverage container needs to be exact size as per housing to obtain maximum thermal transfer efficiency.

Certain temperature controlled mugs are designed using nano heaters which consume less power and last battery longer. But it limits from increasing the temperature of the liquid quick enough to the required temperature. Also these kinds of mugs cannot maintain temperature on cold side.

All the above mug designs or the housing design have limitation that they are not able to leave the liquid in the disposable cup and control the temperature. They either have to pour the liquid in the mug supplied or have container size exactly match to size of housing. None of the housing designed using thermoelectric coolers are size of coffee mug.

Hence a need exist where temperature of the mug can be controlled widely from cold to hot or hot to cold so the same mug can be used as cold or hot beverage server which fits in your palm's grip just like any other beverage mug. Using disposable cup directly without having to pour liquid in the mug and maintain temperature avoids washing mug everytime it is used.

The temperature controlled mug can have wired or wireless contact type battery charger as an accessory for automobile and desktop charger for remote uses like in home and offices. It also has voice activated temperature settings which helps to set, increase or decrease the temperature. Voice activated temperature can be additional feature which will help increase or decrease temperature during driving. It also has power button, up and down button with LED screen for temperature settings.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention comprises of a thermoelectric cooler combined with heater element. Liquid if poured hotter than the required temperature, thermoelectric cooler (Peltier Cooler) using electricity will turn its surface cold making the hot liquid to cool down until the set temperature is reached. If cold liquid is poured, either the thermoelectric cooler or heater or both thermoelectric cooler and heater are turned ON to raise the temperature of liquid to the set temperature. This time the current through thermoelectric cooler is in reverse direction, meaning the current direction is switched to thermoelectric cooler so the surface which usually gets cold will now get hot. Heater on the other hand is used based on ambient temperature and humidity. Detachable metal vase/container inside the mug is retracted by magnets placed underneath the metal container. This way metal container can be removed for washing purposes whenever necessary. In the metal container goes the disposable cup, which when placed in metal container can maintain, raise or decrease temperature of the liquid.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Some embodiments of the present invention are illustrated as an example and are not limited by the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references may indicate similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 shows an exploded view of one example of temperature controlled mug according to various embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 depicts a view of mug lid which accommodates disposable cup opening and tightly sealing the lid to become spill proof according to various embodiments described herein.

FIG. 3 shows metal container/vase with magnets at the base for quick attachment and detachment according to various embodiments described herein.

FIG. 4 shows cut view of the thermal unit, heatsink and fan according to various embodiments described herein.

FIG. 5 shows block diagram of the temperature controlled mug according to various embodiments described herein.

FIG. 6 shows cordless contact automobile charger according to various embodiments described herein.

FIG. 7 shows cordless contact desktop charger according to various embodiments described herein.

DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well the singular forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one having ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and the present disclosure and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

In describing the invention, it will be understood that a number of techniques and steps are disclosed. Each of these has individual benefit and each can also be used in conjunction with one or more, or in some cases all, of the other disclosed techniques. Accordingly, for the sake of clarity, this description will refrain from repeating every possible combination of the individual steps in an unnecessary fashion. Nevertheless, the specification and claims should be read with the understanding that such combinations are entirely within the scope of the invention and the claims.

In an embodiment, the temperature controlled mug, charging accessories and functions like voice activated control and use of disposable cups are discussed herein. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be evident, however, to one skilled in the subject that the present invention may be practised without these specific details.

The present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the invention, and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments illustrated by the figures or description below.

The present invention will now be described by referencing the appended figures representing preferred embodiments. FIG. 1 depicts an exploded perspective view of the elements that comprise a temperature controlled mug (the “mug”) according to various embodiments of the present invention. It consists of lid (11) to tightly seal the disposable cup (12), metal container (13), with magnets (13A) attached at the bottom to secure the metal container, thermal insulating container (14) is around the metal container which has temperature sensors (14A) embedded in insulating container. Insulating container can be made of various insulating material and can also be vacuum insulated. Thermal pad (15A) is seated on the base assembly also called as thermal unit (15) which consists of thermostat (35) (Shown in FIG. 4), heating element (33) (Shown in FIG. 4) and temperature sensor (34) (Shown in FIG. 4). FIG. 1 shows thermoelectric cooler (16A) and heatsink (16), which helps maintain the desired temperature. Inside the heatsink is the fan (17) which helps to transfer heat. Underneath heatsink are batteries (18), and control element (Not shown in diagram for simplification). The assembly is covered by mug cover (19) which can be made of plastic or metal and has perforation (19A) for air flow.

Mug also has OLED display (20), UP button (21), DOWN button (21A) and power button (22) for controls. Above the OLED screen is the opening for microphone 36 for voice activated controls. The mug has wireless contact with charger (Automobile Charger and Desktop charger). The charging base (23) has two circuit connection positive and negative supply (23A) and magnet (24) in center for proximity sensing. This magnet activates the circuit on the charger so the power is turned ON.

FIG. 2 consists of lid (11) and disposable paper cup (12), lid (11) closes the opening of the disposable paper cup so the liquid is spill proof. Although the mug can be used without disposable cups to maintain the temperature, adding disposable cup in the mug to maintain the temperature gives advantages of not washing the mug everytime the liquid needs to maintain temperature. The lid (11) consists of push button opening to open and close access the liquid. Push button open and close operation is based on spring and switch operation not explained in this article for simplicity.

The metal container (13) inside the mug is removable was washing purposes if necessary. Three magnets (13A) placed underneath the metal container (13) confirm the alignment and helps tightly securing the base of metal container to the thermal unit. Most important, the powerful magnets are used for better thermal contact. For better thermal transfer between metal container and thermal unit, thermal pad (15A) is added on the top of the thermal unit. Refer FIG. 3 for details. The thermal pad (15A) can be used multiple times and have longer life. The thermal unit (15) has three holes for magnets from the metal container (13) to be aligned. Metal container can hold hot as well as cold liquid, if the liquid that is hot and temperature needs to be dropped down to specific value, the thermal unit (15) turns cold and bring the temperature down as per set point specified by user. Similarly in case where liquid is cold and needs to be warmed up, the thermal unit (15) turns hot and stays hot until the set temperature is reached. The metal container can be made to the size required to adjust the disposable cup.

FIG. 4 shows thermal unit (15) along with heatsink (16) and fan (17). This particular view in the figure shows the heating element (33), thermostat (35) and temperature sensor (34) embedded in thermal unit (15). Efficient heater is added to thermal unit so the thermo electric cooler doesn't have to operate all the time while warming the liquid. As thermoelectric cooler (16A) are not very efficient, heater do very fantastic job of heating with higher efficiency extending battery capacity. Plus heaters are very useful in avoiding condensation and frost accumulation on the heatsink, fan, control unit (38) and battery. Heatsink and Fan attached to thermoelectric cooler (Peltier cooler) helps to dissipate heat when liquid needs to be cooled.

Block diagram shown in FIG. 5 shows how controls are provided in order to make temperature control mug operational. Control Unit (38) uses power from chargers and onboard battery (18) as per conditions. Temperature sensors located across various points in the mug provide very useful information in terms of temperature and level of the liquid in the mug. Input switch like power button (22), UP button (21), DOWN button (21A) provides useful information to the control unit (38) in terms of temperature set point adjustment and powering ON and turning OFF the mug. Output elements in block diagram are OLED display (20), thermoelectric cooler (16A), heating element (33) and fan (17). Control unit (38) based on the inputs decides how the output element needs to be turned ON and OFF. Final goal of the control unit (38) is make sure the temperature is controlled as per set point and continue to operate safely. Thermostat (35) is added on the thermal unit for safety shut off when temperature on the thermal unit goes above safety limit.

Battery charger is needed to charge the onboard battery of temperature control mug and supply power to mug incase of low battery to maintain the operation. FIG. 6 shows automobile charger which can be placed in the cup holder of an automobile so the power could be supplied to the mug and help charge the onboard battery. FIG. 6 shows the automobile charger and in the center of the charger is opening 26 for cylindrical magnet located on the base of the mug. The center magnet not only helps in detecting if mug being placed on the charger but also helps to center align. Pogo pins on the outer ring (27) are for negative and inner ring (28) is for positive supply. Pogo pins helps to connect to the mug rails efficiently.

FIG. 7 shows desktop charger. Just like automobile charger, desktop charger is similarly used to charge the battery on mug and supply power for its operation. It does have base (29) support to rest on the flat surface. Although it is called desktop charger, the charger can be placed on any clean flat surface and hence can be used anywhere. 

I/We claim:
 1. A temperature controlled mug comprising of a plurality of metal container (13), disposable paper cup (12), lid (11), thermal unit (15), heat sink (16), fan (17), battery (18) and a temperature control system
 2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plurality of metal container (13) is to hold on to thermal unit (15) using tiny strong magnets (13A).
 3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plurality of metal container (13) is wrapped with thermal insulating container (14) and closed with spill proof lid (11).
 4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plurality of metal mug has temperature sensors (14A) which connects to thermal management and control unit (38).
 5. The system as claimed in claim 1, temperature of the liquid contained in metal container (13) or liquid contained in disposable cup (12) is controlled to set temperature value either by quickly increasing or quickly decreasing temperature of liquid using thermoelectric cooler (16A) and heating element (33).
 6. The system as claimed in claim 1, use of disposable cup (12) itself to holds liquid to maintain temperature avoiding pouring liquid in metal container (13).
 7. The system as claimed in claim 1, control wide range of temperature range of liquid present in mug that fit in palm's grip.
 8. The system as claimed in claim 1, use of strong magnets (13A) to attach removable metal container (13) to thermal unit (15) that makes heat transfer efficient.
 9. A temperature control and communication unit comprises of a. Control Unit (38) b. Onboard Battery (18) c. Voice Input d. OLED Display (20) e. Thermoelectric cooler (16A) f. Heating element (33) g. Thermostat (35) h. Fan (17) i. Temperature Sensors (14A) j. Input Switches (UP button (21), DOWN button (21A), Power button (22)) wherein the control unit (38) acts as main unit responsible for controlling temperature and understand voice based commands and follow them. Voice base commands include setting temperature, increase temperature, decrease temperature, power on and power off.
 10. The system as claimed in claim 9, listens to voice based commands, take input signal from input switches, decides to raise or lower the liquid temperature based on the set point and displays current temperature and temperature set point on the OLED display.
 11. A temperature control mug is charged via cordless contact mug charger for automobile (FIG. 6) and desktop charger (FIG. 7). 